Hello Again

The sleeping quilter awakes. Ahhh - it has been what - 2 years since I last posted? What can I say, I have been busy, very busy and very tired. Almost every day I think about adding a new post to let my friends and followers know I am still in this world. Today I vow to change from an every 2 year update to at least once every two weeks.
A brief synopsis - I went on a quilting cruise with my lovely mother in 2010 and I received an Honorable Mention at the Dallas Quilt Celebration this past March - that's it. In reality, I have done much more but I won't take up precious blog space covering every detail now. In time...
Right now I am making meatballs and spaghetti. I was watching a show called 'Cooking Yourself Thin' or something like that, where the hosts take a calorie laden dish and redux it using less fat, less sodium, less creamy deliciousness while keeping the flavors. I'm no food stylist but yummy..........

Getting back to art and artistic endeavors...for a while my creative mojo went on vacation. I believe my brain was so full of work 'things' there was no room for creativity to flourish. I struggled to come up with ideas and my motivation was absent. I challenged myself during Lent to either create a piece of art each day or finish a UFO. I was somewhat successful and pleased that some pieces I have had for years were finally quilted.

Here is a piece that has been around for 4 or 5 years.

I was also able to work out a few ideas I had floating in my head. The Lenten project idea came from my friend Deborah Boschert, who by the way is having an excellent year. I will show pictures later because of course I cannot find these gems right now.

The one thing that did not change was my desire to purchase fabric and gadgets, gadgets I haven't used and cannot find. My daughter has instructions to not let me buy one more inch of fabric, yet I manage to sneak in a fat quarter or half yard every now and then. I think this is my crack.

I have been dying to dye for some time now. About a month ago, I took some time and dyed a 12 step gradation.

I love it! I have no real plans to use the fabric but the whole idea of playing with color makes me happy. I'll just pet it for now.

I found this in my draft folder. Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I am still so very thankful. (I even finished a few more pieces since then.)

I am so thankful for everything in my life. My friends, my ability to make a living and take care of myself, my loving family and my health. I spent Thanksgiving weekend finishing or at least mostly finishing - quilting projects I started within the past 2 years, patterns and fabric I bought years ago but never started, hand finishing bindings on wall hangings, thread painting pieces started some time ago that I wasn't sure what to do with. I am quite pleased with myself. I have these things hanging all over the place....First thought is that it is two days off from work and time to sleep late and do what I want when I want but the more reflective time I spend, the moreI am thankful for all that I have and all that I am able to do with my hands and my mind.

Back to Life

I had a breath of fresh air this week. I went to a meeting of the Twisted Stitchers, something I haven't done in months. It felt good to have people excited to see you and to be excited to see them. Tonya, Carol, Sharon and Judy were there working on projects for the upcoming Dallas Quilt Show. I brought a project from the Prayers and Squares Quilt Ministryt to work on. I managed to only sew parts of 3 blocks the wrong way.

The quilt store where we meet, Quilt Country, is sponsoring a cruise to Alaska next summer featuring Carol as the main instructor. I am giving this serious consideration... I left our meeting inspired to do something, anything creative. I decided to make a wall hanging of the Man in the Maze. My friend Lorraine bought me a bracelet while on vacation in Sedona. This was my inspiration for the quilt. I was hoping to make it for the 12X12 challenge but it is too big. I made two patterns so maybe I will make the smaller one for the challenge. We will see - there is a boatload of cutting that gives you something like this:

but then you can change this garbled bunch of fabric into a positive

and a negative. They are fused and waiting for finishing work.

Ahhh! Feels so good to blog...

Shoot Me Now!!

Okay, so it is Wednesday and I am catching up on some mindless television. I thought Toddlers and Tiaras was disturbing but now I am watching a show called Truth Be Told. This week the show is about crazy, obsessive pet owners. Eleven cats! Yikes - that's a lot of poop scooping - and their names - Georgie Porgie Puddin Pie-come on. And this lady with this monkey - okay so he is a service monkey - and she has agoraphobia - but a monkey, in a stoller, wearing matching clothes - you just cannot domesticate everything. For grins, I looked up the definition of agoraphobia - whatcha think - a monkey for comfort - embarrassing situations??? Thank goodness the Health Dept. stepped in and won't allow 'Richard' the monkey in stores with food. Somehow I don't think agoraphobia is the worst of her problems. Did she not hear about the pet monkey attack that practically killed a woman???
Now - a Pageant Dog - and the owner wipes the dog's ass - I would go to my grave before admitting to something like that on tv. The dog has a better wardrobe than the owner.

I don't want any animal lovers to be upset with me - I love animals, have had dogs in my life and currently have a kitty - I just don't get anyone over the age of 10 dressing their pets in 'outfits' and letting animals climb on counters where you cook and eat - after all animals have their own special way of 'cleaning' themselves and I don't want those lips anywhere near my food. Hmmm...Swine Flu comes to mind... Oh stop it - now there are balloons and decorations (what else but Hello Kitty) for the cat birthday party - and catnip (kitty pot), look at them, they have the munchies now. Now the monkey lady wants to sue the county because she cannot bring the monkey into the grocery store. Let me change the station

What I really wanted to say in this post is - knitting is taking up my time. I am working on a Noni pattern called Urban Daily Adventure Bag. I am directing my creative energies in a different direction for a bit - kinda like cross training.

Happy August!

Since my last post, I have been busy doing things I love to do. I spent a day at United Cerebral Palsy , helping the clients celebrate the Fourth of July. This is the second or third year we have done this at work. We started with a cookout, a craft project and ended with a parade around the facility. I made a few new friends that I look forward to seeing again. I also spent quite a bit of time and energy on team for another ACTS retreat. Most normal people would have been done after the retreat on Mother's Day weekend but I have never been considered normal, even on my best day. I promised my friend Jessica that I would assist on team when her church had their first retreat and I try to honor my promises when possible. And as if I hadn't had enough, I was asked to be a co-director for the next retreat given by my church - sigh. I'm going to take 2010 off.
I managed to make a couple of art pieces. One was rejected by the Texas Fiber Arts Federation for their annual show - phooey.

I made a couple of small pieces using techniques from Kelli Perkins Quilting Arts Workshop - Stitch Imagery. I don't have pics on this computer so I will post them later. I also decided to knit and felt a couple of purses. I was inspired by a simple, yet beautiful purse Suzanne Morgan brought to one of our DAFA Board meetings. True to my nature, I had to try making one for myself. Here is the felted purse. I will needle felt a design later. I was very happy with the results and was inspired to make a cell phone holder. I used a pattern from Pursenalities Plus. The amount of shrinkage amazes me:

Pre-felted piece, look at how much room there is.

After felting and with snap closure.

Pre-felted piece

Finished piece with heart shape covering the magnet snap.

Life's a journey....

Terri and Sue have a Summer Giveaway of some of their hand dyes, books and other great stuff. Check out Two Creative Studios to sign up for their newsletter and to read more about it.

Still Here

I am still alive and kicking and working on a few pieces. Life has gotten in the way a bit but I have managed to start working on a few new techniques.

I have created this little ditty for our Art Swap tonight at the Dallas Area Fiber Artists meeting. I used a technique I learned on a QA Workshop video to make the flowers and I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. I waited until last night to start this even while I had other 'starts' laying all over the place. I didn't have time to think so I 'did' and I like the results. When will I stop overthinking every single thing I do????? It is a small (4 X 9) felted piece with flowers made of sparkle organza. Some other techniques I have been experimenting with are turning photographs into small artful pieces. These are in progress. The fabric version is in UFO status. This photo
became this watercolor piece which will become a cloth piece.

This watercolor piece started out like thisStill working ...

Collage Mania is On!

Collage Mania is on!
Go - buy - support - the American Cancer Society. There are still some beautiful pieces available. Today, the collages are available for a minimum contribution of $40. This is such a wonderful way to raise money where everyone benefits - the American Cancer Society receives the funds, the artist gains exposure and a feeling of community, and the donor receives a piece of art.
Collage Mania will be open until midnight.